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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27485896">Primed for portals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lalalando/pseuds/Lalalando'>Lalalando</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:48:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,672</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27485896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lalalando/pseuds/Lalalando</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wild's first trip through the swirling portals isn't a pleasant experience.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>413</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Primed for portals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was a thought I had based on the Wild rice chapter where it's mentioned Wild sleeps for 16 hours after his first trip through the swirling portals. I get motion sick on buses and trains, I refuse to believe a swirling interdimensional vortex doesn't leave some sort of mark...</p><p>I headcannon that just like motion sickness it affects everyone at different rates.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Ok, Cub.’ Twilight said, standing next to Wild in front of a spinning portal of black and purple light. ‘You just have to walk through it.’</p><p>Wild looked at him, his eyes were slightly wider than normal and glimmering with an unknown emotion. He nodded.</p><p>Legend laughed at his flustered expression and walked forwards himself. ‘I’ll go first.’</p><p>Wild watched as Legend, and then Hyrule, Warriors, Sky and Wind walked through the spinning portal, each disappearing in seconds.</p><p>‘And… you don’t have any way of knowing what’s on the other side?’ Wild asked, hand on his slate.</p><p>Time shook his head. ‘So far, we've been lucky, we usually come out somewhere fairly safe and have time to get our bearings.’ He eyed Four who was staring at the portal with resignation.</p><p>‘Come on, let’s go together.’ He said softly.</p><p>The Smithy drew in a deep breath and then nodded. He took Time’s arm and closed his eyes, the two walking through together and leaving Twilight and Wild alone.</p><p>‘Our go.’ Twilight said with a small grin.</p><p>Wild nodded and stepped forwards, hand still on his sheikah slate as he walked forwards, Twilight close behind him.</p><p>It was similar to how he felt when he managed a perfect parry or flurry rush. It was like time stagnated for a moment, froze, and then realigned itself to him as he walked through.</p><p>He felt a slight resistance and a strange wash of energy and then a pop. The feeling of heaviness and being unable to draw a full breath left him and the last of the black and purple fog in front of his vision faded away. He stepped through into a bright forest clearing to see the others already setting up camp.</p><p>He gasped when he felt a strange feeling of jitteriness settle over him, leaving him feeling paranoid and exposed. He pulled a blade from his slate turning a full circle just in time to see Twilight exit the portal and then see it disappear.</p><p>Wild had a moment to see the look of concern on his friend’s face before a voice behind him had him spinning with a gasp.</p><p>‘You alright, cub?’ Time was looking at him with concern, they all were. He found himself breathing heavily, everything was <em>too bright</em>. A stick broke off to his left and he spun again, gasping, to see Hyrule standing with his hands up to show he was unarmed, expression understanding.</p><p>‘It’s ok.’ Sky said softly, empathy burning in his own eyes along with a deep uncertainty that Wild had never seen on the normally confident knight’s face. ‘Going through the portals affects all of us in different ways.’</p><p>At his words, Wild felt his eyes drift around the clearing, to Warriors who was sitting with his hands over his face, the parts of his expression he could see, pinched with nausea.</p><p>To Time who looked melancholy and listless. And then to Four who was holding tightly to Time’s arm, swaying slightly on his feet, paler than Wild had ever seen him.</p><p>But still, he couldn’t bring himself to resheathe his sword, his whole body felt like it was vibrating, but it wasn’t an excess of energy, it was more like every nerve in his body was suddenly hyper-alert and he couldn’t block out any of the stimulus surrounding them.</p><p>Behind him, Twilight’s stomach grumbled loudly and the rancher sighed. ‘It’s alright cub, just…take your time.’</p><p>‘It’s always worst the first few times.’ Hyrule piped up. He placed an arm around Legend who was leaning on him rather heavily, Wild blinked when rather than react with an angry scowl, Legend simply accepted the hug and leaned in to wrap his arms around his friend, pressing his face into his collarbone.</p><p>Wild licked his lips and nodded uncertainly, sword unsheathed and held tightly in his visibly shaking hand.</p><p>Twilight’s stomach rumbled again and Wild jumped at the sound. Amplified as it was for him.</p><p>‘Sorry.’ Twilight mumbled, embarrassed, hand on his stomach. ‘I always get super-duper-hungry.’ He laughed, the sound louder than Wild could handle and his free hand flew up to cover one ear, sword clenched even tighter in his other hand.</p><p>Time cleared his throat quietly and Wild clenched his teeth so hard he was surprised they didn’t crack.</p><p>‘I’m just going to put Four to bed.’ He announced.</p><p>Wild’s headshot to look at Four, who was at this point, leaning almost all of his weight on the oldest. From his expression, he was already mostly asleep, unusual for the smallest member, especially as it was only early afternoon. His lips were moving rapidly as if he was speaking to someone, but the Champion couldn’t hear what he was saying.</p><p>‘I-is… is he ok?’ Wild stuttered, he winced at the strange timbre of his own voice, he sounded tense, incredibly so, a hint of strange desperation colouring his words.</p><p>Time frowned, looking at him more closely, his expression clearing slightly, but Twilight, surprisingly, laughed.</p><p>‘He’s fine.’ The rancher waved a nonchalant hand, and wobbled, unsteady. ‘Poor Four, transferring through the portals really wipes him out. He’ll be fine after he sleeps for a bit.’</p><p>As if to prove his words true, Time had no more lowered the young hero onto his bedroll and covered him with a blanket, than Four was out cold. Already fast asleep.</p><p>Wild nodded slowly, eyes still flitting around the clearing at his team who were all acting strange.</p><p>Warriors gave a groan and raised his head from his hands, already looking a little better. He smiled at Wild, the expression strangely calm in the face of Wild’s jittery unease.</p><p>‘It will fade in the next few hours.’ He reassured him steadily. ‘For now, we generally just try to pull ourselves together a bit.’</p><p>Time moved to sit on a log, a deep melancholy now radiating from him, he twisted his wedding ring mindlessly, obviously far away and Warriors sighed, standing up with what looked like a herculean effort to take control with both Twilight and Time acting out of character and out of commission.</p><p>Wild felt the world sway around him when Wind and Hyrule moved at the same time, his eyes trying unsuccessfully to track both of them.</p><p>He stumbled, hand flying up to his brow and he gave a low whine of discomfort when several voices yelled. A strong hand gripped his shoulder, helping to centre him and slowly, so slowly, Wild managed to open his eyes to see, a still unusually sombre, Sky looking down at him.</p><p>‘Come. Sit down.’ He said softly, leading the younger towards the fallen log they were using as a seat.</p><p>Wild sat, eyes glazed over when he felt the rough wood of the tree beneath his finger-tips.</p><p>He could feel the damp that was radiating from the moss that covered the top and could smell the dusky, earthy aroma that came with it.</p><p>He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to pull himself together and block out some of the stimulus that was assaulting him.</p><p>He felt someone sit next to him and opened his eyes just a crack to see Hyrule, Legend now leaning into Sky with his eyes closed under a tree. </p><p>A breeze wafted through the clearing making Wild shiver, and a nut falling from the branch of one of the trees surrounding them had him gasping and spinning his head to face in that direction.</p><p>‘I’m just going to touch your wrist for a second, alright?’ The words echoed in Wild’s head and he turned to see Hyrule’s warm, chocolate brown eyes staring at him.</p><p>After a long moment, he swallowed, nodded and then watched as Hyrule deliberately reached out to take his pulse. At the sudden pressure, Wild slammed his eyes shut with a hiss, Hyrule’s skin was slightly warmer than his and the heat felt like fire, the sleeve of Hyrule’s rough, woollen tunic scraped on his wrist and it felt like sandpaper. He was sure the gentle grip of his friend would leave dark bruises on his skin.</p><p>The jitteriness increased and Wild began to jog his leg up and down rapidly. Trying to expel the feeling.</p><p>‘How is he?’ Warriors voice, his careful tread had Wild wrenching his eyes open again and leaning back. He saw everyone in the clearing watching him carefully. Unsure how to help.</p><p>He wondered briefly why he was so much worse than the others.</p><p>Hyrule gave a low hum. ‘His heart is racing and he’s shaking all over. I think it’s overstimulation. I think he’s very, <em>very</em> over-sensitised.’ His voice lowered and he addressed Wild. ‘Is that what you’re feeling?’</p><p>Wild nodded and put his head in his hands, legs jogging up and down incessantly. He could feel the whole WORLD move away from his foot every time the muscles pressed down. ‘T-Too <em>loud</em>. Too <em>bright</em>.’ He managed.</p><p>Hyrule pulled back gently but didn’t touch the younger man. Despite how much he wanted to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. ‘I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but it will pass and this is the worst it will ever get. It gets easier every time.’ He promised.</p><p>With a low sigh, the traveller stood and patted the back of his pants to dislodge the small leaves that were sticking to him.</p><p>‘I’m going to make some food before Twilight eats a rock.’ Twilight laughed loudly, still sounding a little drunk and swayed slightly.</p><p>‘No, I should...’ Wild trailed off with a gasp when he raised his head from his hands and saw how bright the colours were, how loud the sounds were. With a low sigh, he gave up and sank back down to his place on the log. Whole body still trembling and legs both jogging up and down.</p><p>‘It’s alright.’ Hyrule boasted, confident. ‘I used to cook all the time before you joined us.’</p><p>Twilight laughed again, almost giddy. ‘Why do you think we were all so happy when we found you, Cub?’</p><p>‘Excuse <em>you</em>!’ Hyrule breathed, mortally offended, but keeping his voice down for Wild’s sake. ‘I am a perfectly capable cook.’</p><p>‘Hylia save us.’ Wind mumbled.</p><p>Wild kept his head in his hands and listened to Hyrule begin to cook their meal. He found that if he kept his eyes closed, it was much more bearable. The stimuli of the oversaturated colours seemed to be the worst part and his vision alone could overstimulate him in moments.</p><p>He smelled something and sniffed experimentally. It was staminoka bass and hyrule herb. He had no idea how he knew that, but with his senses heightened to the extent they were, he was absolutely sure.</p><p>He cleared his throat and screwed up his face. ‘C-cool the fire down a bit, Roolie. And…’ he sniffed again. ‘Add…some rock salt… honey…half a chilli.’</p><p>He trailed off and felt, rather than heard the silence that followed his words. ‘What?’ he asked, not lifting his head.</p><p>‘While I’m not going to deny that’s a useful skill, it’s fucking <em>spooky</em>.’ Legend admitted from across the clearing.</p><p>Wild looked up, eyes narrowed in something approaching a glare to see the veteran still clinging to a slightly more cheerful-looking Sky. He was relieved to find the colours appearing more normal, less oversaturated than they had been.</p><p>Legend grinned. ‘What?’ he laughed at the Champion’s uncharacteristically snarky expression. ‘I <em>said</em> it was <em>useful</em>.’</p><p>Wild put his head back in his hands, the feeling of overstimulation was fading slowly. There was something underneath the overstimulation, he wasn’t really sure what it was yet, but he knew it would hit him hard when it came.</p><p>The jogging in his legs began to slow down and he gave a low sigh of relief now that the world felt like it had stopped moving.</p><p>Time snapped back into the present and stood, stretching his back out. His strange bout of melancholia seeming to have passed. He looked around himself and frowned. ‘Does anyone know where we are?’</p><p>Wild suppressed a laugh. He had been so caught up he hadn’t even thought about where they were. Which had been the whole point of him walking through the portal in the first place.</p><p>‘We’re in my Hyrule.’ Twilight said. ‘On the other side of the Ordon mountains. It’s actually one of the safest places in my Hyrule.’</p><p>Warriors and Time both sighed in relief.</p><p>Hyrule began to hand out bowls of the fish he’d made with Wild’s help, it was overcooked and dry, but it was a much better effort than the group were used to, outside of Wild himself.</p><p>Twilight tucked into his portion like a starving wolf and Hyrule laughed. ‘There’s plenty more in the cooking pot, help yourself.’</p><p>The rancher looked up, mouth stuffed full to bursting and nodded wordlessly.</p><p>‘Do you think you can manage some?’ Hyrule asked quietly, a bowl in his hand.</p><p>Wild shrugged and held out his hand, gently taking the bowl. Although he could feel every grain in the wooden bowl underneath his fingertips, and the warm meal inside felt scalding, he managed to take a small bite, clenching his eyes shut at the explosion of flavours that assaulted him. It wasn’t unpleasant, exactly, but the flavours were far stronger than normal.</p><p>‘Just take it slow.’ Sky advised from his spot next to Legend. The veteran had leaned back, out of the Skyloftian’s personal space and back into his own, tucking into his bowl quietly. It seemed everyone was beginning to return to normal.</p><p>Wild inhaled sharply when, without warning, complete and sudden <em>exhaustion</em> filled every cell in his body. The bowl in his hands fell from his suddenly numb fingers and landed, upturned, on the muddy forest floor.</p><p>He swayed. It was suddenly <em>impossible</em> to reopen his eyes.</p><p>‘Ummm, guys, he’s…’</p><p>‘Wild…?’</p><p>‘Cub?’</p><p>‘Woah!’</p><p>‘<em>Fuck!’</em></p><p>‘Hyrule, <em>catch him!</em>’</p><p>He felt gentle hands wind around his shoulders and waist, he’d completely lost track of which way was up and allowed the hands to pull him back into a warm chest. He felt hands on his forehead, his wrist, and puffed out a breath of laughter, the sudden exhaustion not letting him do any more than that.</p><p>‘mm…t’red…’ He slurred. He let out a breath and unwound into a sleep so deep it felt like unconsciousness.</p><p>O o O o O</p><p>‘What the <em>hell</em>?’ Legend muttered.</p><p>No one had noticed at first that Wild had stopped jogging his leg, that the trembling had faded and that he seemed to be having trouble opening his eyes.</p><p>It wasn’t until he’d dropped his bowl, staring down at it with unseeing eyes. Until he’d swayed and almost fallen face-first into the dirt that they’d realised how far gone he was already.</p><p>There had been brief chaos and then Wild had faded out on them.</p><p>Hyrule’s gentle hand was on his wrist, eyes furrowed and carefully counting the beats. ‘He’s asleep.’ He said quietly.</p><p>‘Are you sure?’ Time was concerned, hand on his hip. ‘We’ve seen how erratic Wild’s sleep is, the slightest noise wakes him up.’ He shot a glance at the young man who was resting on Hyrule’s lap. ‘This isn’t something more?’</p><p>The team medic shook his head. ‘He’s just absolutely exhausted. I think the over sensitisation really used up his stamina. His pulse is a lot slower and more even than before, which is good. His breathing is fine too.’</p><p>He ran a hand through Wild’s bangs, pausing when the young man didn’t even flicker. ‘No fever.’ He continued. ‘He’s just…asleep.’</p><p>Time nodded slowly, and Sky stepped forwards reaching out. ‘Here, let’s get him into his bedroll at least then.’</p><p>With an ease that surprised him, Sky hefted Wild into his arms bridal style and slowly walked over to where the younger man’s bed had been set up for the night. Wind pulled back the top layer and Sky lowered Wild down. He frowned and then crouched to pull off his friend’s boots while Warriors removed his weapons.</p><p>Throughout all of this, Wild, the notoriously light sleeper, didn’t so much as flicker.</p><p>Concerned, Hyrule reached out again, and again felt the steady thrum of Wild’s pulse. ‘Definitely asleep.’ He confirmed.</p><p>He looked at the others. ‘I guess we’d best just leave him be until he wakes up?’</p><p>There were a few unsure glances and some sifting of boots in loose soil, but eventually, the others faded back to the outskirts of camp. Leaving Wild to sleep.</p><p>And he did.</p><p>He slept.</p><p>And slept.</p><p>And slept.</p><p>Finally, 16 hours after he’d entered his uncharacteristically deep sleep, Wild began to stir.</p><p>‘Wild? Hey, guys, I think he’s waking up! Wild, can you hear me?’</p><p>Wild groaned and dug his face back into his blanket, his head HURT and his whole body was aching and heavy. He gave a low hum, acknowledging the voice, but not yet ready to force his eyes open.</p><p>There was a light hand on his wrist, taking his pulse it seemed and then, a smaller, cooler, hand reaching down to sweep his hair off his forehead, gauging his temperature. He scrunched up his face and then cautiously opened one eye, hissing when the dim, morning light stabbed into his skull.</p><p>There were two blurred figures right next to him, a brownish blob and a smaller blob with cropped hair. Behind them he could make out more shadows moving around, obviously watching.</p><p>‘Roolie?’ He mumbled, confused. ‘Four?’ He slammed his eyes shut again. ‘Wh-why am I laying down?’</p><p>A huff of a laugh to his left had him opening his eyes again, squinting through the pain. ‘Hi Twi.’ He mumbled, clearly still not entirely with them.</p><p>‘How do you feel?’ The brownish blur, Hyrule, asked softly.</p><p>Wild gave another hum, confused this time. ‘M-head hurts.’ He mumbled, still half asleep.</p><p>The others exchange glances, normally once Wild was awake he was wide awake, taking only a moment to stretch before jumping out of his bedroll and into action. He was clearly still struggling to open his eyes and didn’t seem entirely aware of what was going on.</p><p>A hand appeared over Four’s shoulder, holding a red potion. The smithy smiled up the arm at its owner, Sky, who was watching in subdued concern.</p><p>Four took the potion and popped the lid off, holding it out to Wild who appeared to be back on his way to sleep. ‘C’mon, Wild.’ He coaxed. ‘Headaches aren’t fun. Just have a sip of this and you’ll feel a lot better.’</p><p>Blindly, Wild reached out from under his blanket, eyes still shut and a bemused Four put the potion in his hand. They watched, the clearing silent, as the hand disappeared into the blanket. There was another beat of silence before Wild gave a low sigh of relief and shifted under his blankets, sitting up. He looked groggy and pale, his eyes hooded and dark and his tunic falling off one shoulder, hair in complete disarray.</p><p>Hyrule sent a half-hearted glare over his shoulder when Warriors and Legend stifled laughs. They had never seen Wild like this before.</p><p>‘Better?’ Twilight asked softly</p><p>Wild nodded slowly, blue eyes drifting over the clearing. He blinked and then froze as the memories of the switch seemed to rush back to him. Wild blushed and ran slightly trembling hands through his knotted hair. Huffing in frustration when his fingers caught on a knot.</p><p>Warriors laughed lightly and moved to his pack, pulling out a brush. ‘Here.’ He said softly. ‘Let me give you a hand.’ He sat behind the still Champion and began to work the knots out of the ends of his hair, slowly moving upwards towards his scalp.</p><p>Rather than protesting or wriggling in embarrassment as he would normally, Wild simply hummed, eyes slipping shut again, obviously still exhausted. ‘Thanks, Wars.’ He muttered, shoulders slumped.</p><p>Four, Twilight and Hyrule settled to one side, letting Warriors work, but keeping a close eye on their friend, each finding something small and quiet to keep themselves busy.</p><p>‘You’ll be ok.’ Warriors said gently. ‘The first switch is always the hardest. You’ll probably feel a bit off for the next few days as you adjust to being in the new Hyrule, but the tiredness will fade pretty fast now you’re awake again.’</p><p>‘You’ll probably need another nap when Warriors is done, and then once you’ve eaten something and have slept through the night you should be ok.’ Four added. ‘I have trouble going through the portals too, but for … different reasons.’ The smithy stumbled to a halt, biting his lip as if he’d revealed too much.</p><p>Wild simply nodded, eyes fluttering and head hanging forwards. Too exhausted to speak.</p><p>Legend and Sky exchanged glances, Legend looking slightly guilty for his earlier laughing. ‘Firewood duty?’ the Skyloftian asked with a grin. Legend nodded.</p><p>‘I’ll make some grilled fish.’ Time said quietly, ‘Come on Wind, you’re the best fisherman out of all of us, we’re going to need a lot.’ Time began to walk past Wild to the edge of camp where he had placed his pack to get his fishing rods. Wind following him with a grin. Time paused to place a steady hand on the Champion’s shoulder.</p><p>‘Good to see you’re back on your feet, Wild.’ He said, with surprising warmth. ‘Rest for today, we’ll see how you feel tomorrow.’</p><p>Wild nodded and sighed, deep in his chest, he took a breath. ‘<em>Guys,</em>...’ He began, voice raspy and quiet, eyes closed and head down as Warriors continued to work away at his tangled hair. He sounded <em>absolutely</em> exhausted.</p><p>Twilight reached out to rub his back and they all swapped concerned glances when the normally jumpy Wild again didn’t react to the unexpected touch.</p><p>They all leaned forwards to hear what he had to say.</p><p>‘…I really, <em>really</em> hate portals.’</p><p>Sky and Hyrule grinned at each other as Warriors laughed in surprise.</p><p>‘Oh. Me too, Wild.’ Four said with a surprising amount of feeling, ‘<em>Me too</em>.’  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wrote this quite a few months ago and forgot about it... thought I may as well post it even though it's unpolished. </p><p>I just find it impossible to believe they can hop between dimensions unaffected.</p><p>(Can I just add this edit to say how obvious my attempts to procrastinate uni work are that I decided to post this TODAY? haha)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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